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Strong earthquake clusters are still hitting Christchurch today,
sending goods toppling from shelves, causing rockfalls and driving
terrified residents from buildings 10 months after a quake killed
almost 200 people in the city.

An initial 5.8 magnitude earthquake at 1.58pm was centred 20km
north-east of Lyttelton at a very shallow depth of 8 km.

It was followed by a series of strong aftershocks, the largest
at 3.18pm measuring 6.0 magnitude revised from 5.3, which locals
corrected reported earlier as feeling worse than the initial quake
at 1.58pm.

The most recent one was at 4.50pm measuring 5.0 with a depth of
10km, 20km north-east of Lyttelton.

Now, there's a warning from a scientist there would be further
shakes.

"In coming days the most likely scenario is that there'll be a
series of aftershocks in a similar location, and they'll gradually
drop off," Ken Gledhill a seismologist with GNS Science told TVNZ
News this afternoon.

"This is just a reminder that this area is more active than it
was in September 2010."

New Zealand straddles the boundaries of the Indo-Australian and
the Pacific tectonic plates and is hit by about 14,000 quakes every
year, of which only a small number usually top a magnitude of
5.

Scientists had warned after the February quake that there would
be further shakes, probably as large as magnitude 6.

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No serious injuries or damages

Following the shakes this afternoon, a number of people have
received minor injuries, and at least one required hospital
treatment, but there are no immediate reports of serious damage,
injuries or casualties at this stage.

St John responded to 19 emergency calls from the first quake. It
said all the injuries have been minor.

The majority were chest pains, people collapsing, people having
seizures, panic attacks and anxiety issues.
There was one minor car accident and one person had a knock to
their head.

Four people have been rescued by the Coastguard after being
trapped by rock falls in Boulder Bay.

Police said there are significant rockfalls at Redcliffs and a
stopbank on New Brighton Road has collapsed.

A partly demolished building on the corner of Barbadoes and
Kilmore Streets has collapsed, but the Fire Service advises there
was no-one inside..

A vacant house at Aynsley Terrace has also collapsed.

The WINZ building in New Brighton has been damaged, but all its
staff were evacuated safely.

Scarborough rock face has suffered some collapse but this has
been contained by the containers at the foot of the cliff.

People are also being urged by police to stay away from hill
suburbs because of the risk of rock falls.

Phone networks are under pressure and police are urging
residents keep mobile calls for emergency use and to text rather
than phone otherwise.

Travel and evacuations

ONE News reporter Jack Tame described the first large shake at
1.58pm as "pretty fast and pretty violent", while Christchurch
Mayor Bob Parker said "we are very concerned."

Parker adds that the psychological impact of today's earthquake
and aftershocks are big.

He said nothing can prepare Cantabrians for more earthquakes,
and is urging people to stay off the streets to keep them clear in
case of emergency.